Fri 11/27 – Sun 11/29
There’s a whole lot of festivities kicking off Thanksgiving weekend, but nothing quite like the Great Lakes Science Center’s (GLSC) inaugural Turkey Tech Event, and debut of Robots, a new OMNIMAX movie. From Fri 11/27-Sun 11/29, head down to the iconic GLSC to share in the fun, create memories and inspire the spark of creativity this holiday season.
“Great Lakes Science Center is about doing, not just watching,” says Dante Centuori, director of creative productions. “People learn by doing. For an event like this, we have a lot of fun with science and technology to reinforce our mission — making science come alive! For example, we’re putting a turkey on a 1 million volt Tesla Coil, and making a holiday cookie cutter on a 3D printer. Our guests will come away from this having an extra-special fun time with science, and that helps break down any barriers people have about thinking science isn’t interesting or accessible.”
The Turkey Tech Event weekend also debuts a screening of the new National Geographic movie Robots, presented in the six-story OMNIMAX theater. Robots takes you on a trip to robotics labs around the world and introduces you to CHIMP, ATLAS, PR-2, Herb the Butler and more. Scientists use engineering and design to make humanoid characters less cyber and more human.
“We put together a collection of cool activities that are themed around Thanksgiving. These activities will give our guests a positive association with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM),” shares Dante. “Many of the activities reinforce scientific concepts we teach in other demonstrations and programs, such as conductivity or volume and air pressure. In some activities, there is the additional element of teamwork or the accomplishment of creating something yourself.”
Kids ages 6-13 will enjoy hands-on activities, a pizza lunch, an OMNIMAX movie, the Big Science Show and hundreds of interactive exhibits. The kids are grouped together by age and supervised by the experienced staff at GLSC.
The event is for the entire family and everyone should come!
“It’s a great way to engage people of all different generations and a great event for creating family memories. If you’ve got friends or family staying with you for the weekend, or the kids need a fun outing over the long weekend, what could be better than building your own VEX robot or seeing our staff ignite turkey shaped balloons filled with hydrogen?” Dante concludes.
If Black Friday shopping is your thing, there’ll be a one-day “Parent’s Day Out” program on Fri 11/27. You can get gifts for the kids without them snooping around. On Friday from 9am-3pm, the kids will be off for a day of scientific fun while you get your holiday shopping in.
Parent’s Day Out is $30 per child for non-members and $25 per child for members. While all of the activities are FREE with paid general admission, some of them require advanced registration such as the Family Turkey Launch Tournament and the Maker Workshop 3D Printed Cookie Cutters. Registration is available online or by calling 216-621-2400. GLSC is asking families who register for the Turkey Launch Tournament to bring a canned food donation.
[Written by Kendall Embrescia-Hridel]